An Exploration of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz

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An Exploration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Dana Bailey

AECO 311, Fall 1997

USC Beaufort

Running head: WIZARD

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Abstract

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum. He wrote it to be a children’s fairy tale. However, many speculate that Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to be a commentary of the political happenings around the turn of the century. Whether Baum wrote it with this in mind or not, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz certainly has a lot of analogies that lend credence to the theory.

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An Exploration of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written by L. Frank Baum in 1900. Born in Chittenago, New York, in 1856, Baum was the seventh of nine children. During his lifetime, Baum tried running a theater, a newspaper, and a store, all of which went broke. No matter what Baum was currently failing at, stories continuously filled his head. When Baum would return home from work he would gather his children and their friends together and tell them stories. Baum’s mother-in-law heard these stories and urged him to publish them. Baum published two relatively successful books for children before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published (Rylant, 1996). Baum was a prolific writer. In all there are 14 stories written by Baum about Oz. Baum’s Oz stories were so well liked that at one time he promised his readers he would write one new Oz story a year. Today, many more sequels to Oz have been written by others who so enjoyed the story. However, Baum did not want to be known solely for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, so he wrote under many pen names as well. Using pen names such as Captain High Fitzgerald, Floyd Akers, Laura Bancroft, Edith Van Dyne, Suzanne Metcalf, and Schuyler Staunton, Baum published adventure books, picture books, girls’ detective stories, and three adult novels (Griffith and Frey, 829).

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In the introduction to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Baum (4) said, “...the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written to pleasure children today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.” Many people have tried to read hidden meanings into this novel. Paul Nathanson wrote Over the Rainbow, in which he discussed his theory of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a secular myth of America. In the preface to his book, Nathanson (xvii) pointed out that people have attempted to interpret The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from Marxist, Freudian, and theological points of view. The most inventive interpretation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was started in 1964 by Henry M. Littlefield. Littlefield wrote an essay entitled “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Parable on Populism,” which was published in the American Quarterly. Since then, many people have continued to expound on this theme. To fully appreciate the allegorical references, it has been necessary to research the history of America in the 1890s through the turn of the century.

The 1890s were an interesting time in America. The Populist movement, the issue of bimetallism, the election of 1896, and the key players of this time are all very important to establishing the allegorical references in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

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Populism, formally named in 1892, was a new kind of politics that stuck up for the masses and materialized in Texas in 1886 (Goodwyn, 88). This time in America was called the Gilded Age because of the monetary gold standard and the problems which surrounded the plea for bimetallism. Most Populists were pro-silver. Congress and the bankers were anti-silver. With the gold standard, the bankers stood to make a huge profit at the detriment of the industrial workers and farmers. With bimetallism, gold coins would be priced according to gold prices and silver would be priced according to silver prices. With the gold standard, all coinage was set equal to the price of gold.

The election of 1896 was a controversial election for the times. The prevailing issue was the monetary standard. William McKinley, a Republican, was for the gold standard. William Jennings Bryan, a Democrat, was for the free and unlimited coinage of both silver and gold. Despite support from both the Democrats and the Populists, Bryan lost the election, but the basis of his fight, “...the people versus the power of wealth...,” continued (Johnson, 192).

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Henry M. Littlefield was a high school teacher at the time he formed the theory that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a parable on populism. He stumbled upon the idea as a means of teaching his bored students about the Populist movement at the turn of the century and the 1896 election (“The Rise and Fall of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on Populism’”). Littlefield (1) acknowledges that Baum’s first theme was the children’s fairy tale and that the political allegory remains a minor aspect; however, he concluded by saying, “...the relationships and analogies outlined...are far too consistent to be coincidental.”

Littlefield said the Wicked Witch of the East represented eastern industrialists and bankers. Just like the Wicked Witch of the East imprisoned the Munchkins, the eastern industrialists and bankers imprisoned the common people by controlling the monetary system. The Scarecrow, whom Dorothy first stumbles upon and who is in search of a brain, was representative of the wise but naive western farmers. The Tin Woodman, who needed a heart, depicted the dehumanized industrial worker. The industrial workers had it so bad for so long that they no longer cared about what was happening to them and they felt powerless to stop it. William Jennings Bryan, the 1896 presidential candidate in favor of the silver movement, was represented by the Cowardly Lion, who needed courage. Like the Cowardly Lion, Bryan needed courage to stand up for the little people against Congress and the bankers. The Yellow Brick Road, Littlefield claimed, stood for the gold standard. The silver slippers, which came off the feet of the Wicked Witch of the East and were presented to Dorothy by the Munchkins, were symbolic of the silver movement. Silver was the answer the Populists held to solve the nation’s economic troubles. The Emerald City was Washington, DC, with the Wizard as any one of the Gilded Age presidents (“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the Underlying Political Allegory”).

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There was support for Littlefield and his thesis. Hugh Rockoff wrote an article in the Journal of Political Economy in 1990 wherein he added more analogies. Rockoff (“The ‘Wizard of Oz’ as a Monetary Allegory”) thought the Deadly Poppy Field, where the Cowardly Lion (a.k.a. William Jennings Bryan) fell, stood for “...the anti-imperialism that threatened to make Bryan forget the main issue of silver. Also, in the Emerald Palace, Dorothy must walk through seven passages and up three flights of stairs. Rockoff said this alluded to the Crime of ‘73, in which silver dollars were dropped from the currency surreptitiously. Populists felt this proved the collusion between Congress and the bankers (“The Rise and Fall of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on Populism’”).

Two passages of particular interest depict the perceptions of the gold standard and the silver coinage issue. First is a passage on the Yellow Brick Road, which Littlefield claimed stood for the Gold Standard:

After a few hours the road began to be rough, and the walking grew so difficult that the Scarecrow often stumbled over the yellow brick, which were here very uneven. Sometimes indeed, they were broken or missing altogether, leaving holes that Toto jumped across and Dorothy walked around. As for the Scarecrow, having no brains he walked straight ahead, and so stepped into the holes and fell full length on the hard bricks.

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This is symbolic in that, even though the road had holes, it still served its purpose, because in the long run it still worked as a road. The gold standard is similar, in that it had its problems, but many felt it would still work in the long run.

Another passage presented the opinion of the silver movement:

At that moment Dorothy saw lying on the table the silver shoes that had belonged to the wicked Witch of the East. “I wonder if they will fit me,” she said to Toto. “They would be just the thing to take a long walk in, for they could not wear out.”

Silver was thought to have elasticity and abundance to last for a long time (“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the Underlying Political Allegory”).

Also mentioned in the novel are the Winged Monkeys. Some say the Winged Monkeys represented the Plains Indians, who in the 1890s could not find a home anywhere in America. In the novel the leader of the Winged Monkeys told Dorothy how they were once a free people who lived happily before Oz came to rule over their land ((“The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: An Examination of the Underlying Political Allegory”). The Winged Monkeys were much like the Plains Indians who had their run of the land before the white man settled in and kicked them out.

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With all these allusions, it is only natural to wonder if “Oz” itself stands for anything. It has been reported that Baum got the idea for the name of “Oz” from a filing cabinet near to where he was at the time. There were three drawers labeled A-G, H-N, and O-Z. Baum decided arbitrarily that Oz was the best choice. However, those that support Littlefield say this is another allegorical reference since ounces can be abbreviated oz. The Populist slogan at the time was 16 to1, which is the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold.

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It has been said that one would be hard pressed to find any character, setting, or event in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that does not have a “populist parable” analogy (“The Rise and Fall of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on Populism’”). Not mentioned in any of the reference material reviewed was the fact that the Emerald City was not really emerald in color. In reality, it was the same color as the rest of the world, but in the Emerald City green glasses were worn to make everything appear emerald. Oz told Dorothy that the people of the Emerald City had been wearing green spectacles so long that they really believed that everything was green. This is an allegory to Washington, DC, and its politics. The general population believes what the president tells them, not because they know it themselves to be true but because he told them it was true, just like those in the Emerald City believe that everything is green because Oz told them so. Another point is that Oz is not really a wizard; he is but a mortal, nothing more than a regular person. In this way Oz can be compared to any president of any time. The people of the Emerald City bestowed upon Oz such great power and trust that they made him to be superhuman, and Oz spent much of his time trying to live up to their expectations. Oz granted the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion their wishes, without truly having granted them a brain, a heart, or courage, respectively. Oz makes something up and convinces them that they have those things they desire. They believed him because of who he was and because Oz told them what they wanted to hear. This is much like the reality in America where citizens tend to forget that the president is human like everyone else and not capable of miracles, and where presidents are successfully elected because they told the voting majority what they wanted to hear.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a stimulating novel, with new allegories appearing each time it is read. Whether Baum intended this to be the case or not is unclear. Many contend that, because Baum was not very active in politics, he probably did not write the novel as a political tract. However, just because one does not express his opinions publicly does not mean he does not have opinions. Littlefield, the first one to make the allegorical references, makes it clear that his observations are not theoretical, but allegorical. The story is delightful in itself, with or without the allegorical intent. Baum set out to write a children’s fairy tale and he certainly did just that. However, there are more allegorical references to be found still, and this take on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz will be discussed for years to come.

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References

Baum, L. Frank. 1997. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baum, L. Frank. 1900. Introduction. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Benton, William, pub. 1968. “William Jennings Bryan: The Cross of Gold.” The Annals of America. Volume 12, 1895-1904. Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.

Carpenter, Angelica Shirley, and Jean Shirley. 1992. L. Frank Baum: Royal Historian of Oz. Minneapolis, MN: Lerner Publications Co.

Goodwyn, Lawrence. 1976. Democratic Promise: The Populist Movement in America. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Griffith, John W. and Charles H. Frey, eds. 1987. Classics of Children’s Literature. Second edition. New York, NY: Macmillan Publishing Company.

Johnson, Allen, ed. 1929. “William Jennings Bryan.” Dictionary of American Biography. Volume 3. New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Littlefield, Henry M. “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism.” American Quarterly. Vol 16, #1, Spring 1964, 47-58.

Mayer, George H. 1964. The Republican Party: 1854-1964. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Nathanson, Paul. 1991. Over the Rainbow: The Wizard of Oz as a Secular Myth of America. Albany, NY: State University of New York.

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Parker, David B. 1994. “The Rise and Fall of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a ‘Parable on Populism.’” Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians. Vol 15. Retrieved October 3, 1997 and printed with permission from ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/t/tiktok/oz/parab.